The Ouija Board - Laurie Anderson

About this time, like a lot of New Yorkers who find themselves on the West

Coast, I got interested in various aspects of California’s versions of the

occult

We would sit around at night while the Santa Ana winds howled outside and ask

questions to the ouija board

I found out a lot of information on my past 9,361 human lives on this planet

My first life was as a raccoon

And then you were a cow

And then you were a bird

And then you were a hat, spelled the Ouija

We said «a hat?»

We couldn’t figure it out

Finally we guessed that the feathers from the bird had been made into a hat.

Is this true?

Yes, spelled the Ouija

Hat counts as half life

And then?

Hundreds and hundreds of rabbis

Now this is apparently my first life as a woman, which should explain quite a

few things

Eventually though, the Ouija’s written words seemed to take on a personality,

a kind of a voice.

Finally we began to ask the board if the Ouija would be

willing to appear to us in some other form

FORGET IT

FORGET IT

FORGET IT

FORGET IT

FORGET IT

FORGET IT-

The Ouija seemed like it was about to crash

Please, please, what can we do, we were nagging now, so you will show yourself

to us in some other manifestation?

You should lurk.

You should L-U-R-K.

Lurk

Now I never really figured out how to lurk in my own place, even though it was

only a rented place, but I did find myself looking over my shoulder a lot

And every sound that drifted in seemed to be a version of this phantom voice

whispering in a code that I could never crack